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To Sam5 June 2017

The law

Hello Sam, just a quick question is it against the law to get fingered at the age of 13 this happened to me and i didnt give consent a couple of my friends know but my parents dont...

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Please help me?

Sam13 June 2017

Hi there,

Thanks for writing to me.

It's against the law for anyone to do something sexual with you when you don't want to, no matter how old you are. Even if you did feel like you wanted to be fingered, it would still be against the law as you are under 16. Telling your parents about this may be difficult but they could help you and it's important you know that you have done nothing wrong.

The law is there to protect you from being abused or taken advantage of. For this reason, it says you need to be 16 before you can do anything sexual with someone else - no matter how old they are. In your case you didn't give your consent, so it wouldn't matter if you were older.

When someone touches you sexually and you didn't want them to, this is sexual assault. It's not your fault that it happened and you haven't done anything wrong. It would be okay to tell an adult you trust about this, so that they can make sure you are supported and get any help you might need. It can be difficult to talk about but taking that first step is often the hardest.

If you'd like to talk it through with a Childline counsellor first, they can usually keep what you say confidential. This can be a good way to start practising talking about what happened, so that it's a little easier.

I hope that helps.

Thanks for your letter.

Sam

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